Sir Alan Sugar has stepped down as chairman of Amstrad, the electronics company he founded 40 years ago.

The 61-year-old star of BBC Ones’s Apprentice said the departure was a "planned move" following the company's acquisition by BSkyB last year.

But the self-made multi-millionaire is not retiring. He will continue to be involved with his other business interests, including Amshold, Amsprop, Amsair and Viglen computers.

“The past 40 years have seen Amstrad grow from a start-up business to the success story it is today, which is credit to the talented team here," said Sir Alan, who handed over the day-to-day runnings of the business to Amstrad Managing Director Alun Webber last year. He will now combine the job with his role as Sky's group director of strategic project delivery.

"Alun has worked closely with Amstrad over a number of years and is the right person to build on the success that we have seen to date. I step back knowing that the company's future is in good hands.”